


a played out trap

by cinnamonstix



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Angst, Drama, M/M, Pining, Romance, cruel intention vibes, rich kids
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-21
Updated: 2019-06-18
Packaged: 2019-11-01 13:58:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17868572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinnamonstix/pseuds/cinnamonstix
Summary: Chan leans forward and rests his head on Minho shoulder, “I’ll do it.”Minho moves to his right slightly, causing Chans head to fall off it’s perch, “No. You’re an infamous slut, he’s definitely heard about you. Hyunjin actually has a shot,” Minho sits back, looking at Hyunjin and raising an eyebrow, “So? What do you say?”Hyunjin looks away, disinterestedly, “I don’t know.”“Come on, it’s not like we’re hurting anyone. All you gotta do is get the kid to fall for you, get the papers, dump him and then get out of there.”In an act of revenge, Hwang Hyunjin devises a plan and makes a bet with his friends to seduce Seungmin, an unsuspecting and overtly naive college freshman. However, revenge rarely goes smoothly and through the course of Hyunjin’s scheme, feeling are discovered and reputations are questioned. In the end Hyunjin gets much more than he bargained for in his attempts to woo Kim Seungmin.





	1. head over heels

 

 

> _i know it’s breakin’ bottles,_  
>  the lightning storm i found,  
>  but if it’s keepin’ hot, i’ll be burnin til i drown,  
>  and if it snaps me sideways or if it stops my heart,  
>  i ain’t to blame, no, i just did my part
> 
>  
> 
> _-[my](https://youtu.be/fM4w_eGvH-s) [part](https://youtu.be/fM4w_eGvH-s), dom fera_

 

 

Seungmin is late.

 

He’d stayed up way too late last night catching up on his new favorite kdrama and fooling around on his phone and he must’ve forgotten to set his alarm, because instead of waking up to loud beeping, he’d woken up to the bright glare of the sun against his eyelids.

 

Rolling away from the window, Seungmin makes to go back to sleep before realization hits him and he sits up so quickly he nearly gives himself vertigo. 

 

He reaches toward his desk, fumbles around and nearly knocks down the entirety of his belongings, before he’s able to get a grasp on his phone. Pulling it free from the charging chord, Seungmin presses the home button and lets out a strangled cry at the numbers displayed on the screen. Tossing his phone back onto his bed, he trips out of bed and slides into his slippers before skidding out of the room. He come back a moment later, grasping at his toothbrush and toothpaste before running back out and toward the communal bathroom. Three minutes later, he’s skidding back in, pulling on a random and probably dirty hoodie. As he run around his room, throwing things into his backpack while simultaneously pulling on a pair of socks, Seungmin notes that Felix’s bed is neatly done and his backpack is gone. 

 

Grumbling under his breath, he makes a reminder to tell Felix off for not waking him up and leaving without him. Felix had been his close friend since high school, he out of all people should know how notoriously irresponsible Seungmin can be.

 

He glances at the clock above his desk and notes that he’s already missed the 11:30 bus and will have to take the 11:45 bus which means he wont get to Park Hall until 12 making him late for the first day of class.

 

If his brother ever found out about this, Seungmin would never hear the end of it.

 

He stumbles out of his room, attempting and failing three times to lock his door before he finally manages it. Seungmin must look like a complete idiot, running through the dorm and taking the stairs two at time. Goddamnit, finding out whether or not Wooseok’s biological mother was also the same lady that had killed Eunjae’s sister had definitely not been worth it. Seungmin nearly takes out a poor cleaning lady when he makes a sharp turn and has to quickly jump out of the way. He bows and mutters multiple apologies before flying out of the door and toward the bus stop.

 

He makes a sad attempt to speed walk toward the bus in a very last ditch effort to save himself some embarrassment but the thought is completely thrown out of the window when he notices the large green bus rounding the corner. Seungmin has to sprint and then practically throws himself at the bus, just barely making it to the doors before they shut. He thanks the driver for waiting and quickly swipes his card. To avoid the curious eyes of the other passengers, Seungmin awkwardly stands near the front and looks down at his shoes. He has to desperately and audibly try to catch his breath and is reminded of the harrowing affects that staying in all summer binge watching shows and playing video games has had on his physical shape.

 

So much for good first day impressions. Seungmin had been nervous enough already about starting his college career. The added obstacles of being a complete idiot really did not help. Now not only did he have to face the first day late, but also in a three day old hoodie and the joggers he’d slept in. 

 

He decides he should probably text Felix and Jisung to save a seat for him, but when he reaches into his pocket, he finds it empty and lets out a muttered curse. He’d left his phone at home on his bed.

 

Seungmin leans against the pole he's holding and groans loudly. Today could not get any worse.

 

 

 

The bus ride is mercifully short and he arrives at the stop outside of the lecture hall with 3 minutes to spare. Seungmin barely waits for the bus to make a full stop before he’s leaping off and speed walking toward the lecture hall. 

 

It’s seems that whatever ounce of luck he’d been permitted for the day had run out, so when he makes the same mistake of running through the halls and not slowing down when making sharp turns, he’s unable to avoid colliding head on into a solid body leaning against the wall.

 

Seungmin quickly stops, turning toward the other and feels even worse when he notices that they had be holding a cup of hot coffee which has now spilled all over their front, soaking through their expensive looking button-up. 

 

The stranger’s face is red and his jaw is slack as he shakes the coffee off his hands. He has full lips that are currently forming a grimace and a distinctive mole under his right eye. His darks hair is effortlessly styled and slightly messy like he’d been running his hands through it. Seungmin’s dumb brain makes the unnecessary observation that the stranger is ridiculously good-looking.

 

He stares at him, his mouth opening and closing rapidly as he gestures stupidly, “I am so sorry!” 

 

The other man grabs at his shirt, pulling it away from his body in disgust, “It’s a little too late for sorry.” 

 

His friend, standing to his right, covers his dimpled cheeks with his hands in an attempt to muffle his laugh. His shoulders shake and an unattractive snort comes through his fingers as he shakes his head. He rapidly waves his hands in front of himself and apologizes when the taller man glares at him. 

 

Reaching into his backpack, Seungmin pulls out a pack of tissues and offers them lamely to the stranger. The man glares at him before roughly accepting the tissues, ripping them from Seungmin’s outstretched hand and dabbing uselessly at his front. 

 

When Seungmin doesn’t make to leave, the stranger looks up at him, his eyes still narrowed in anger, “Do you fucking want something? You already ruined my goddamn shirt, you can go,” The man spits, flicking his wrist as if dismissing Seungmin. 

 

Even the stranger’s friend looks taken aback. Sure, Seungmin understands that the guy is mad and, of course, he understands why, but that doesn’t give him the right to act so unnecessarily rude. 

 

The shock wears off, and Seungmin’s face contorts from surprise to anger, “You don’t have to be a dick. I was just trying to apologize, it’s not like I meant for you to spill your coffee.” 

 

“Yeah, well apologizing isn’t going to get the coffee stain off this shirt now, will it? Do you fucking know how much this cost?” The stranger spits.

 

“No. And frankly I don’t fucking care,” Seungmin huffs, glaring back at the handsome stranger. His sudden bravery and venomous words come as a bit of a shock and Seungmin quickly shoulders past the other two. He stuffs his hands into his hoodie and lowers his head, exiting the scene quickly to avoid any further altercations and power walking into his lecture hall. 

 

 

 

Class has already begun by the time Seungmin awkwardly shuffles in. He’s trying to be as quiet as possible while searching for an open seat and he’s a mix between thankful and embarrassed when he spots Felix and Jisung waving manically at him from the fifth row, having saved a seat for him. 

 

He attempts to quietly and innocuously make it his seat without attracting more attention, but, of course, silly Seungmin had forgotten that God had given Satan the opportunity to run his life for the day, so when he tries to silently shuffle to his seat, he accidentally trips over someone’s backpack. Then, he tries to catch himself but in the process only ends up knocking over someone’s notebook. Finally, in a foolish attempt to catch said notebook, he flings his arm out and knock down an empty seat. All of this causing a beautiful chorus of crashes and loud noises that directs everyone’s attention towards him.

 

Awkwardly picking up the chair and returning the notebook to it’s owner, Seungmin looks towards the front of the class and finds that the professor has stopped lecturing and is watching him with an unamused expression on his face. Seungmin can feel the dozens of eyes on him and he sheepishly apologizes for what feels like the billionth time that day as he picks himself up and off the floor. 

 

He sighs a breath of relief when the professor returns to the presentation and scurries to his seat where Jisung and Felix are watching him. The traitors don’t look the least bit concerned for his well-being (his mental health bar is currently at 20% thank you very much for asking), instead stifling their giggles behind their hands. 

 

“What the hell Felix? Why didn’t wake me?!” He hisses once Thing 1 and Thing 2 have finished their seemingly unstoppable bout of laughter.

 

Thing 1, also known as Felix, has the audacity to shrug, “I figured you wanted to sleep in, you were up pretty late last night.” 

 

Seungmin shakes his head before letting it drop into his arms and groans loudly. Suddenly looking over at the other boy again, he squints suspiciously at the notoriously late sleeper, “What time did you get up at anyway?”

 

Felix gets suddenly nervous, looking down at his hands as a blush creeps across his cheeks, “I, uhh—“

 

“He woke up at the ass crack of dawn to try and run into Bang Chan at J&K.” Jisung pipes up, dodging Felix’s slap.

 

Felix scoffs, glaring at Jisung, “I woke up at 7, that is not the crack of dawn okay?” He looks flustered as he looks back down at his hands, “And anyways it wasn’t to run into Chan. I, um, wanted to drop by and visit my dad.”

 

“Felix, you hate your dad.”

 

Felix sputters looking up, “I do not! Anyways lets go back to talking about how embarrassing Seungmin was just now when he tripped on air coming in.” 

 

Jisung starts giggling so loud at the memory, the professor needs to glare at them again to get them to quiet down.

 

 

- 

 

 

“And that’s why I had to call things off. Like fuck that—she’s hot sure but her husbands fucking huge. I’m not about getting my face reconstructed for a stupid fling.”

 

Chan’s sitting on the edge of the picnic table, arms braced against his thighs. His tie is undone, strung around the unbuttoned collar of his dress shirt. He’s scrolling through his phone nonchalantly while recounting his latest breakup.

 

Minho raises an eyebrow, letting out a huffed laugh, “You knew who her husband was before you got involved with her; why the hell get involved in the first place?” 

 

He’s sitting on the bench like a normal person, his legs tucked under himself as he watches the other students walking down towards the dining hall.

 

Chan squints, looking over at Minho, “I obviously never planned on him finding ou—“

 

Hyunjin lets out a dramatic sigh cutting off Chan and drawing both of their attention to him. Pulling at his sides dramatically, he pouts, “Your shirt is too tight on me.”  

 

He’s sprawled out on the picnic table next to Chan, long legs in front and palms braced behind him against the scratchy wooden surface. Minho glares at Hyunjin, “We’re the same size.” 

“Mmm, I don’t think so, I’m a bit buffer.”

 

“Fine then give me my shirt back. Your lucky I even brought you something. I should’ve just let you walk around with coffee all over your front.” Minho makes to grab at Hyunjin who flinches and scoots away.

 

“No! I was a victim today, some dumb kid made me spill coffee all over myself. Where’s your sympathy?”

 

Minho rolls his eyes at the whining before rolling his eyes again as a group of friends walk past, giggling and gesturing towards Hyunjin’s relaxed form. They’re gossiping in hushed whispers, their cheeks flushing red when Hyunjin looks over and flashes them an almost predatory grin. 

 

“You’re such a flirt,” Minho shakes his head, looking back down at the papers in front of him.

 

Chan smirks, pulling Minho’s notebook out of his grasp, “Don’t tell me you're already studying. Or are you doing your homework? Can’t your fancy lawyer boyfriend just do it for you,” Wiggling his eyebrows, he holds the notebook above his head as he stands on the bench to keep it away from Minho’s grasp.

“Fuck off, some of us actually care about our academics. I enjoy being smarter than you dumbasses,” with a swift kick to the shin, Minho is able to get Chan to double over and cry out in pain, releasing the notebook from his grasp. Picking it up, Minho glares at them, “I’m going to Happy Cup, I’ll see you idiots later.”

 

Hyunjin sits up, “Wait I’m coming with, I gotta get out of this heat,” Ignoring Minho’s loud disappointed groan, he collects his things and shoves them into his backpack, “You coming too?” He asks Chan.

 

“Nah, I got work,” Chan says as he stands, picking up his blaser and dusting it off. 

 

Hyunjin’s eyebrows furrow, “Dude, we just got back from J&K?” 

 

“Not that kind of work,” Chan winks at them, throwing his blaser across one shoulder and walking backwards.

 

Minho scoffs in disgust, “Sleeping with older woman for money is not a job.”

 

Chan smirks, shaking his head, “I was talking about lacrosse,” he speaks patronizingly, voice slow and eyes wide as he enunciates the last word extra carefully. He gives them a quick wave before turning and jogging off.

 

Minho mutters a few choice words under his breath as he watches Chan run off for a moment before turning towards Hyunjin, “Are you sure you want to come? I was gonna meet up with Wonpil. You’ll be third-wheeling,” He adds bluntly.

 

 “Pssh, Wonpil loves me, he’ll be happy I tagged along. It’s Chan he hates,” Hyunjin says matter-of-factly as he walks alongside Minho. 

 

Minho hums and Hyunjin can tell he’s annoyed that he’s tagging along but he also knows Minho loves him too much to call him out on crashing his date.

 

They walk in comfortable silence through the lush green campus. It’s mid-September but the leaves have yet to turn and the sweltering heat makes it feel a lot more like summer. The sun is hot on their backs and all the students they pass are dressed in short-sleeves in an attempt to fight the warm weather. They walk past the old brick library and towards the Yard where students are walking in out of various restaurants. Minho leads them to the busy cafe in the corner, past the taco place and the pizza parlor. 

 

He hold’s the door open for Hyunjin and Hyunjin makes a big deal of it, bowing low to the floorin thanks. Minho pointedly ignores him and sticks his neck out, scanning the cafe for his boyfriend. When he spots the familiar head of black hair, he straightens, a wide smile stretching across his face. Hyunjin follows close behind as Minho walks with purpose towards the back of the cafe. Wonpil doesn’t seem to hear them approaching, his head low and a slight frown on his lips as he stares at his hands.

 

“Hey, babe!” Minho takes the seat next to Wonpil and leans toward him, kissing him on the cheek and ignoring Hyunjin’s exaggerated gagging noises.

 

Looking weirdly uncomfortable, Wonpil doesn’t even bother to return Minho’s smile. Instead he looks uptight, mildly inconvenienced and slightly constipated. Well, the first one was almost always a constant but the other two were a bit worrying. Minho leans back in his seat staring at the older man with furrowed eyebrows and a confused pout.

 

“Hey man,” Hyunjin greets clumsily in an attempt to break the awkward silence. He sits across from the couple, holding a fist out in Wonpil’s direction.

 

Wonpil raises his eyebrows, “Oh? Hey, Hyunjin, I didn’t realize you were coming along.” 

 

Hyunjin laughs awkwardly, lowering his ignored fist and instead scratching at the back of his neck, “Yeah. Sorry ‘bout third-wheeling.”

 

Wonpil shakes his head, “No, its uh cool. I just um,” He pauses, turning in his chair to look around. Biting his upper lip he looks back at Minho, “I just needed to tell Minho something real quick.”

 

Minho’s eyebrows are still furrowed, but he nods, standing and leading Wonpil towards the bathrooms and out of ear shot.

 

  

Hyunjin leans forward in his seat and watches the two curiously. He’s squinting and trying to read Wonpil’s lips when the waitress walks over, blocking his view, “Hello, can I take your order?”

 

Hyunjin looks up at the waitress and flashes her a charming smile, “Hi,” He leans back in his seat, “I’d like an iced Americano,”

 

The waitress nods, “And will that be all?”

 

“Yeah,” Just as the waitress is about to turn and walk away Hyunjin reaches forward, touching her arm gently, “Say, you don’t happen to go to JYPU do you? You look very familiar, I feel like I’d recognize such a pretty face.” 

 

The indirect compliment has exactly the affect Hyunjin was going for and the waitress’ face blushes a deep red as she covers her smile behind her hand. Hyunjin is now leaning in, arms braced on the wooden surface of the table as he smiles at her.

 

 

 

Minho stands with his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised, “What’s going on? Why are you acting so strange?” 

 

Wonpil leans against the space between the two bathroom. He mirrors Minho’s stance, albeit much more casually, and crosses his arms, “I wanted to talk to you about us and our...” He pauses, searching for the right word, “relationship.”

 

 “Okay. What about it?” Minho asks, watching him skeptically.

 

Wonpil lets out an all too familiar weary sigh, as if he were trying to teach a preschooler a math problem, “Look, I don’t think we’re on the same page anymore.” He shrugs as if that should explain it all.

 

Minho stares at him. A moment of silence passes before he breaks it, “And what the hell does that mean?”

 

Wonpil gives him a pitiful smile, “This was good while it was going—great even. I mean, your a great guy, Minho, don’t get me wrong,” Wonpil reaches forward, brushing his fingers against Minho’s cheek, “But, I think I’ve been distracted and it’s why I let this go on for as long as it did.”

 

Minho leans away from his touch, eyebrows still furrowed, “Let what go on for too long? Babe you’re not making an sense, what are you trying to say?”

 

 Wonpil lowers his arm back to his side. He lets out a dramatic sigh that’s tinged with condescension,“I think we should break up.”

 

I’m sorry, but what the _fuck_?

 

Was he—Minho must have suddenly developed a hearing problem because he’s pretty sure he’s hearing things. 

 

Okay, _Lee_ _Minho_ did not get dumped. _Lee_ _Minho_ was the one who did the dumping. 

 

The hardest part of a breakup had always been the begging and pleading—and occasional stalking—that came from the other party. Minho had never before in his life been on the other end of this conversation. And quite frankly, he didn’t like it.

 

“We’re just not meant for each other, our age difference—I thought we could look past it, but you—we’re not the same maturity level, you know? I really think it’s time for both of us to start dating more realistically. I mean were so different. You’re practically still a baby—you haven’t even graduated college yet. Not to mention how different our upbringings have been...”

 

Minho lets out a dry laugh, turning away from Wonpil and shaking his head. Of course he’d bring class into this.

 

At least that was still predictable.

 

Wonpil has always been so insecure about his family’s social status. He acted so proud and mighty about his Cinderella story yet never failed to try his damn hardest to camouflage himself into Minho’s world. It was a constant attempt to act like he was meant to be there, in the fancy clothes and fancy cars that cost more than his childhood home.

 

“I hate doing this right now, I mean I know your dad’s company isn’t doing so great. All those legal issues keep cropping up and with your dad’s tria—”

 

Minho nearly gives himself whiplash, as he turns to face Wonpil, “ _Don’t_ fucking talk about my family,” He spits.

 

  

 

Hyunjin is playing with the waitresses hand and is about to ask her when she gets off work when he hears Minho raise his voice. Straining his neck, he looks behind the waitress and sees Wonpil shrugging and raising his arms in a placating gesture. Minho, whose always so nonplussed and stoic, is red in the face and looks like he’s trying to decide whether to scream or cry. Wonpil shakes his head, leaning forward and extending an arm as if he’s about to comfort Minho but then thinks twice, retracting his arm instead. He says something else before waving lamely and ducking out of the cafe, walking quickly with his hands stuffed in his pockets.

 

Hyunjin looks up at the waitress, giving her a sheepish smile, “Sorry. I’ll be right back.”

 

The waitress nods, confused, but smiling anyway, and Hyunjin quickly stands,walking over to Minho.

 

“What happened? You okay?” Hyunjin puts his hands on Minho’s shoulders. He looks shell-shocked and his eyes are wet. Steering him toward their table in the corner of the coffee shop, Hyunjin walks Minho to his seat. He lets them sit in silence, giving Minho a chance to gather himself. When the waitress brings over his coffee, he offers it to Minho who gratefully accepts it, sipping the drink quickly through the straw as he stares out of the window. He’s nearly done with the drink when he clears his throat, blinking a couple of times before pushing the cup away from himself. Hyunjin looks up at him expectantly.

 

Minho tilts his head, letting out a dry laugh, “He dumped me.”

 

Hyunjin’s eyebrows skyrocket and his jaw drops, “Holy shit!” He can’t help the incredulous laugh that escapes his lips, “You’re telling me _Lee_ _Minho_ has just been dumped?” Hyunjin sitsback, looking around and shaking his head, “Damn, I did not think I’d live to see the day.”

 

Minho stops swirling his drink around with the straw and looks up at him, shooting daggers in Hyunjin’s direction, “You’re a really fucking shitty friend, you know?” 

 

Having the audacity to look sheepish, Hyunjin schools his expression, “Sorry.”

 

Leaning forward, he pets Minho’s arm awkwardly.

 

Minho watches his hand move back and forth against the sleeve of his shirt. He raises an eyebrow, an unamused frown on his face when looks up at Hyunjin, who quickly retracts his arm, tapping his fingers against the surface of the table, “Sorry.”

 

Minho looks back out the window. He’s still visibly upset but at least he no longer looks like he’s on the verge of tears. Instead he’s silently brooding, eye’s narrowed as he watches the cars drive past.He’s probably plotting Wonpil’s death. Hyunjin shivers at the thought. 

 

Biting the inside of his cheek, Hyunjin looks back up at Minho, “Do you want a hug?”

 

Minho huffs, his chair scraping loudly against the floor as he stands quickly. He gathers his things, shaking his head and casting a disappointed glare in Hyunjin’s direction before making to walk away. Hyunjin nearly knocks his own chair over when stands, “Hey sorry! You know I’m bad at comforting people!” Nearly tripping over his own feet, he chases after Minho as the other strides out of the coffee shop.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey so i’ve been suffering from writers block with my previous fic, so naturally i decided to start a completely new one. 
> 
> anyways, i hope you enjoyed and please leave comments, feedback and criticism is very much appreciated ~
> 
> twitter - [stellatoos](Http://Www.Twitter.com/stellatoos)


	2. the best laid plans

 

 

>   _i know your type, black lights and leather tights,_  
>  _you're_ _black_ _ice_ _on_ _the_ _road_ _on_ _a_ _drunken summer_   _night_ ,  
>  _but_ _I_ _got_ your _number_ , _your_ _name_ , _and_ _your_ _will_ _to_ _fight_ ,  
>  _will_ _you_ _be_ _coming_ _over?_   _will_ _you_ _be_ _coming?_  
>  _reckon_ _you_ _might._
> 
> \- [wasted](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMEFtbf-FFA), rainbow kitten surprise

 

Seungmin lets his arms drop dramatically the minute the tailor steps away, “Why do I have to go to this thing with you?” He whines, pouting at Wonpil’s reflection.

 

He’d just started his brand new video game when Wonpil had entered his dorm unannounced. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to tell the Pokémon Professor his name before his switch had been rudely unplugged and Wonpil had dragged him to this fancy over-priced store and then promptly forced him to get fitted for a fancy brand new suit. Something he claimed was long overdue. 

 

Said older brother sits on the couch behind him, scrolling nonchalantly through his phone. Looking up, he gives Seungmin a slightly exasperated expression, “Because I’m allowed a plus one and this will be good for you. You can make connections. You know, get to know people in the field you’re entering.”

 

 Seungmin rolls his eyes, hand on his hip, he leans exaggeratedly to the left, “And what field is that? I already told you, I don’t want to major in business and I don’t want to do law like you.”

 

Wonpil pockets his phone and stands, walking over to straighten the collar of Seungmin’s blaser, “Then what exactly do you plan on majoring in?”

 

Shit, the dreaded question Seungmin had been consistently asked for the past four years of his life. Although he’s gotten remarkably good at dancing around it, he’s never quite able to avoid the topic when the enquirer is his older brother. He shrugs and breaks eye contact, “I’m not sure yet. I’m still a freshman, I have time.” 

 

Looking closely at Seungmin, Wonpil narrows his eyes. He seems to debate saying something further but ultimately releases the edges of Seungmin’s collar and nods, “Okay, fine. But while your deciding what it is you want to do with your life, it won’t hurt to have some important people in your contact list.”

 

Seungmin sighs emphatically. He knows his brother’s right and means well, but the upcoming sponsor’s night for Hwang Hospital was really not his scene, “You know, you should probably take your boyfriend as your plus one instead. He might get upset if he finds out you took me.” 

 

Wonpil walks away from Seungmin, clearning his throat awkwardly, “Minho and I aren’t dating anymore. He got his own invite, anyway.”

 

Seungmin raises his eyebrows, genuinely surprised, “You guys broke up?” 

 

Wonpil sort of shrugs, looking much too casual for someone who’d just broken up with their boyfriend of almost 6 months, “We had a mutual disagreement. Didn’t really feel the same way about eachother anymore.” 

 

Of course even Wonpil’s breakups played out like business agreements. Seungmin never understood how his brother could treat everything so standardly and emotionlessly. Seungmin himself is the definition of emotionally unstable. He’s prone to cry when he gets so much as embarrassed. Seungmin doesn’t think he’d ever seen his older brother cry before. Glancing over at the older man, he sees him standing, staring out of the window, a contemplative expression on his face as he watches the cars pass by.

 

“Won’t it be awkward then? Why don’t we just skip this dinner? Go to the next one instead, one where Minho isn’t also invited,” Seungmin glances at Wonpil slyly. 

 

Wonpil turns back toward Seungmin and gives him an unimpressed look, “Not gonna work. Your coming whether you like it or not.”

 

Seungmin lets out a dramatic sigh and throws himself onto the couch, ignoring Wonpil and the tailor’s strained protests that he’ll wrinkle the suit.

 

 

 

 

Walking in through the large opened double doors that lead into the hotel’s ballroom, Minho looks around the room, taking in the various CEOs and Chaebols sitting around and mingling with one another. The guests are all painfully stiff, arrogant expressions lining their faces as they greet each other in fervor.

 

God, Minho hated these things. They were awful and completely unnecessary. Minho never understood the need for a night dedicated merely for the purpose of boasting about exactly how much you had donated. He’s quick to mask his judgy expression with a charming and polite smile as Hyunjin’s mother approaches him. The hospital director is dressed in a pretty, simple, grey cocktail dress, her hair pinned in a neat updo.

 

“Minho,” She leans in, giving him a quick hug before drawing back and holding him at arms length, “It’s so good to see you. You look so handsome! How’s college going?” 

 

Minho flashes her a winning smile, “The semester only just started, but it’s been good.”

 

She nods. Looking behind him, she cranes her neck, looking around, “Where are your parents? Did they not get their invitations?”

 

“Uh, no they did. They’re just insanely busy right now. They wanted me to send their regards and apologies on their inability to attend.”

 

Mrs. Hwang smiles sympathetically, a knowing and pitying smile on her face. She rubs Minho’s arm, “Well that’s okay. But look at you Minho, representing LS Group at the age of 20. Gosh, your so grown up!” 

 

She gives him another smile, her mouth opening as if to say something else but just then an arguably more important sponsor arrives, saving Minho from conversing. After she excuses herself and goes to greet them, Minho sighs in relief, scanning the room instead for the youngest Hwang. The only reason Minho had agreed to drag himself to this event had been because of Hyunjin’s dramatic and insistent begging. Hyunjin had been unable to convince Chan to attend but unfortunately had somehow managed to exploit Minho’s kindness.

 

Minho finally manages to spot Hyunjin near the stage. The younger is surrounded by Mr. Kang and his wife, the owners of a large medical supplier, looking very overwhelmed and very bored.

Because Minho is feeling fairly charitable today, he begins to approach the group with the goal of saving Hyunjin from the painfully stiff conversation. He never makes it to Hyunjin’s side though and is instead intercepted by a large hand that surrounds his wrist, effectively stopping him in his tracks. He’s seconds from ripping his arm loose and telling off whoever felt the need to grab him when he looks up and immediately recognizes the culprit.

 

Minho rolls his eyes, pulling his arm free, “What the hell do you want, Wonpil?”

 

Wonpil draws his hands back in mock offense, “I just wanted to say hello. I thought we’d ended things fairly amiably, there’s no need to be so hostile.”

 

Letting out a dry laugh, Minho shoots the lawyer a glare, “Our definitions of amiably seem to bea lot different. What are you doing here anyway?” 

 

“I was invited.”

 

Minho eyes narrowed, looking him up and down, “How? You are definitely not a sponsor.” 

 

Sure its a low blow to poke at Wonpil’s status. It’s a snide and unnecessary comment but Minho can’t help but relish in the affect it has on the smug older man. Wonpil’s smile drops, his cool and calm demeanor finally shattering and a scowl marring his handsome face.

 

“The law firm got a group invite for the higher-ups and Ms. Im personally invited me.”

 

Minho smirks, crossing his arms, “Don’t tell me your sleeping with Ms. Im now. Getting in someone’s pants just to attend a sponsors night really doesn’t suit you.” 

 

Scoffing, Wonpil shakes his head, “Nah. I don’t do that anymore.” 

 

Minhos’s smirk drops and his eyebrows furrow as he side eyes the other, “Anymore?”

 

Wonpil’s smug expression resurfaces and a little too late, Minho realizes he’s let the older gain the upper hand again by indulging him, “Come on, don’t tell me you still haven’t figured it out.” When Minho continues to stare at him in silence and evident confusion, Wonpil continues, “You didn’t actually think I dated you because of your winning personality, did you? I mean you’ve got the looks sure, but, I mean, come on,” Wonpil laughs cruelly, leaning in and dropping his voice inconspicuously,“I was a new lawyer without a single case under my belt. Getting to work on your dad’s case was like a dream,” He shrugs, walking off and leaving a seething, speechless Minho standing against the bar.

 

 

 

“Yes, and we are very thankful for your donations,” Hyunjin bows for the millionth time in the past hour as he tries to subtly escape the conversation.

 

Mr. Kang seems seconds away from launching into a new rant when Hyunjin spots Minho sitting on a stool at the bar. He uses the older boy as a route of escape, signaling to Mr. Kang that he needs to go and greet his friend, politely waving goodbye and practically running away.

 

Hyunjin jogs up to the bar, leaning against the bench next to the Minho, “Hey, took you long enough to show up! God, I feel like I age forty years every second I have to listen to them talk,” Silence follows his remark and Hyunjin looks over in confusion, scanning Minho’s face, “What’s up? You look mad.” 

 

Minho glares at him.

 

“Mad?” He spits, “I’m fucking furious!” he whisper shouts, flecks of spit hitting Hyunjin in the face.

 

Hyunjin leans away in disgust, wiping at his cheeks, “Okay...what happened?”

 

“Wonpil, that asshole, happened.”

 

Hyunjin looks around conspicuously, craning his neck wildly and looking very much like a crazed giraffe, “What? He’s here?”

 

Minho nods, glaring in the direction of the windows. Hyunjin glances over and spots the lawyer brown-nosing some of the hospital heads. He has his arm around a younger boy who looks remarkably similar to him, probably a brother. 

 

“He’s a fucking parasite. Even breaking up with him didn’t get rid of him,”

 

“Didn’t he break up with you?” 

 

“That’s besides the point,” Minho rebukes, downing the flute of champagne the server sets down in front of him, “I’m gonna have to bail. I’m sorry Jinnie, I can’t keep you company, not while the devil himself is here. I did my parents favor, I showed face at this stupid sponsors night.” 

 

Hyunjin pouts, evidently dejected by the statement, but nods.

 

Minho stands from the bar stool, pulling on his blaser, “That’s the last fucking favor I do for them. I’ll see you later,” The older boy squeezes Hyunjin’s shoulder before taking his leave, legs taking long strides, head up, and eye trained straight in front of him.

 

 

-

 

 

Minho walks in through the large glass doors. Glancing around the studio, he takes in the various new pieces his mom is working on. The studio looks the same as the last time he’d visited, admittedly a substantial amount of time ago. It’s still excessively large, the far left wall lined with floor to ceiling windows that currently cast the room in a warm orange glow. It’s minimally decorated with expensive pottery and illustrious paintings. He wanders toward a table near the sewing machine and picks up a piece of cobalt charmeuse, running his fingers against the smooth fabric. 

 

“Minho? Is that you?” 

 

Minho lets the fabric fall through his fingers as he looks toward the voice of his mother. He follows the soft noise of key strokes toward the back of the studio where her office is. 

 

“Hi honey, to what do I owe the pleasure of my wonderful son finally paying me a visit?” She’s sitting behind her computer, her glasses perched low on her nose as she types, “How did the sponsors night go?”

 

Minho looks around the room, ignoring her question, “How’s dad’s case going?” He asks as he runs a finger along the spine of the books on her shelves. 

 

The sound of typing stops, and Minho looks over, meeting his mother’s questioning glance, “It’s... going. We working on the case. We switched lawyers,” She takes off her glasses, folding her hand over each other and resting them in front of her, “The Park’s finally got their heads out of their asses long enough to realize that your father going to jail would be bad for everyone involved, they agreed to represent him.”

 

Minho rolls his eyes, tossing his coat against the back of the chair in front of her desk before throwing himself down in it, “Wonpil broke up with me on Tuesday.” 

 

His mother doesn’t even give him the courtesy of acting surprised. Nodding, she gives him a pitiless, tight-lipped smile, “I’m sorry about that, baby. Are you okay?”

 

Gritting his teeth, Minho narrows his eyes at his mother, “He told me the only reason he went out with me in the first place was to get on Dad’s case.”

 

He watches as his mother places her glasses back on her nose, her fingers returning to her keyboard. She hums, “Well, isn’t that cruel?”

 

“Mom, your the one who introduced us.”

 

Minho’s mother sighs wearily, removing her glasses again. “Minho, just say what you want to say, I’m busy, I don’t have time to listen to your insinuations.” 

 

“You used me as an pawn to get Dad representation that’s what I’m insinuating.” Minho scoffs, standing suddenly, “No one wanted to takes Dad’s case ‘cause it was practically a closed casket and so you made me up like a goddamn doll to attract any lawyers dumb enough to try and take on his case.”

 

“Minho—“ His mother warns.

 

“No! You knew he was using me and you didn’t even say anything because it meant a law firm was actually looking at the case and that’s all that mattered to you, right?” Minho grabs his coat, shaking his head as he pulls it on, “Well, congratulations, you got representation and all I got was my feelings fucking stepped on!”

 

“Minho!”

 

Ignoring his mother’s scolds, he walks out of the office, taking fast strides out of the studio and pressing the elevator button. Rummaging through his pocket, he pulls out his phone, sending the driver a text. When the elevator sounds, he steps in, angrily pushing the ground floor. As the doors close, he stares at his reflection on the shiny reflective surface.

 

It’s not like he’d expected anything less from his mother. He’d been exposed to her manipulative and narcissistic tactics before and he’d grown used to them after twenty years of living with her. He just hadn’t expected her to get involved in his love life. 

 

Minho wasn’t twelve years old anymore and he was by no means naive. He knew he’d likely end up marrying some rich heir to a friendly competitor in an act of merging companies. He’d accepted that fact a long time ago. His only hopes was that before that he’d be able to fool around with and see whoever he pleased. The one control he had in his life was who he dated and yet somehow his mother had managed to stake claim to that too.

 

Sending a quick text, Minho stepped out of the elevator, pocketing his phone. Waving goodbye to the receptionist, he steps out of the glass revolving door and walks toward the awaiting car.

 

 

 -

 

  

Hyunjin lies reclined against a couch. Using his pinky, he mixes the weird concoction Chan had just made him, “What did you say you put in this again?” He asks, sticking his pinky in mouth and experimentally tasting the random mix of various alcoholic beverages Chan had pulled off the shelf. 

 

Chan shrugs, looking down at the bottles he’d lined on top of the bar, “Umm, Triple sec, Amaretto, whiskey, orange jui—“

 

He’s cut off by the sound of the club door opening. Minho walks in, loudly stomping and taking a seat at one of the stools. Hyunjin raises his eyebrows, making eye contact with Chan. Chan looks at him questioningly and Hyunjin shrugs, shaking his head.

 

Minho grabs the bottle of vodka from Chan’s grip, taking a large swig of it before Chan reaches forward and pulls it away from him, “Woah there bud, slow down. Your a bit of light weight remember?” Chan smirks, waiting for Minho’s usual snappy comeback. His smile falls when none comes. He makes eye contact with Hyunjin again. 

 

Hyunjin sits up, hesitating before speaking up. “Hey, Minho are you okay? Is this about Wonpil?” 

 

Chan straightens at the name, looking between the two, “Wonpil? What happened with Wonpil?”

 

Minho sighs, leaning his arm against the bar and resting his face in his hand, “The bastard broke up with me.”

 

“What? When did this happen?”

 

Hyunjin closes one eye, staring off into the distance, “Mmmm, like last Tuesday?”

 

“What? Why is this the first I’m hearing about this?” Chan stares at the other two, glaring accusingly.

 

“Maybe if you’d bother showing up to the sponsors night you’d be more caught up on the lives of your best friends.”

 

Chan rolls his eyes, leaning over the bar to point at Hyunjin. His mouth opens and Minho butts in before the two can get into a full on argument, “I ran into him at the event and he basically confessed that he only fucked me so he could get on my dad’s case.”

 

The divulgence has the effect Minho was going for and the other two men snap their necks turning to look at him in surprise.

 

Waving the bottle of vodka in the air, Chan points at the other two, “See! I told you! I told BOTH of you! I knew he was a dick and neither of you listened to me!”

 

“Don’t get so fucking excited you asshole. I’m not even upset about that. It’s whatever,” Minho shrugs, “He was shit in bed anyway.”

 

Hyunjin snorts, nearly spilling his drink.

 

“It’s the fact that he’s so smug about it that pisses me off. The asshole thinks he’s won whatever childish game he started,” Minho reaches of the bar, grabbing himself a glass and motioning to Chan for him to fill it, “What the dumbass didn’t take into account is that I don’t know when to quit and I never fucking lose. That’s why I called you guys here. Right before we broke up, Wonpil told me he had been given the responsibility of housing a lot of important documentation and he was beyond stressed about it.”

 

Chan leans forward, bracing himself against the bar, “So, you want to what, steal those and stress him out?”

 

“Exactly, but that’s not it. I asked my cousin to look into Wonpil’s law firm. Their current biggest project is this big auto insurance scandal. He won’t just get stressed, he’ll get fired.” Minho smirks, leaning back.

 

Hyunjin lets out a laugh, “Damn, Minho your fucking evil.”

 

Minho shrugs, looking smug and way too proud.

 

“I hate to shit on your parade, but how exactly do you plan on stealing those documents? You can’t exactly waltz back into his apartment and take them,” Chan pipes up. 

 

Minho stands from his stool, motioning for Hyunjin to scoot over, and situates himself on the right of the couch. Chan comes over from around the bar when Minho waves him over, leaning against a nearby pillar.Minho pulls out his phone, scrolling through Instagram before settling on a picture of a boy around their age. He points at the screen, turning the phone to show the other two, “This is Kim Seungmin.” 

 

Chan and Hyunjin nod, looking at the photo with eyebrows raised, waiting for Minho to elaborate.

 

Minho stares at them, when they continue to stare back, he sighs, “He’s Wonpil’s younger brother.” 

 

The other two nod again, still completely lost.

 

Groaning, Minho drops his head in his arms dejectedly, “Never mind you guys are two dumb to help with this plan.”

 

Chan laughs, sitting down on the other side of Minho. He pulls the glass from the younger’s hand, “You are drunk,” He doges Minho’s swats and ignores his protests, “Elaborate on this plan and then maybe we can help you out.”

 

Minho rolls his eyes, “I want Hyunjin to seduce this kid,” He raises his phone again, pointing at the screen.

 

Hyunjin snaps his head up, “What? Why?”

 

“Because, he sleeps over at his brother’s a lot on the weekends. If you get into his pants, you can convince him to take you to the apartment and then you can steal the papers easy,” Minho explains, snatching his glass back from Chan’s grip, “Plus, he’ll be devastated after you break up with him and Wonpil will have to be the one to pick up those pieces.” 

 

Looking over at Minho skeptically, Hyunjin furrows his eyebrows, “Don’t you think thats going a bit far?”

 

Minho stops mid sip and glares at him, “I thought we promised to help each other regardless of consequence. You guys said you’d help me get back at Wonpil. The asshole used me and then dumped me. All so he could snake his way into my family. I want him to know what it feels like to have his personal life messed with.”

 

Chan leans forward and rests his head on Minho shoulder, “I’ll do it.”

 

Minho moves to his right slightly, causing Chans head to fall off it’s perch, “No. You’re an infamous slut, he’s definitely heard about you. Hyunjin actually has a shot,” Minho sits back, looking at Hyunjin and raising an eyebrow, “So? What do you say?”

 

Hyunjin looks around the room disinterestedly, “I don’t know.” 

 

“It’s not like were hurting anyone. All you gotta do is get the kid to fall for you, get the papers, and then dump the kid.”

 

“Won’t we be hurting the kid?”

 

Minho shakes his head, “I’ve meet him a couple of times, he’s a prude and super naive, I don’t think he’s ever even had a boyfriend. This’ll be like a life lesson; a favor of sorts.” 

 

He knew his friend was upset, but something about meddling with some innocent, uninvolved kid didn’t sit well with Hyunjin. He agreed that Wonpil was an asshole that had many things coming for him, but their had to be a better way to get back at him.

 

Hyunjin shrugs, shaking his head, “I don’t know about this.”

 

Minho sighs, opening his mouth as if to say something more. Hyujin’s phone goes off and effectively cuts him off.

 

Reading the text, Hyunjin sighs, “I’m not going to be a part of this, I gotta head out, I’ll see you guys later.” He pulls on his coat and waves at the two before exiting through the large double doors of the empty nightclub.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed the chapter!
> 
> Comments and feedback are highly appreciated and really motivating~
> 
> twitter - [stellatoos](Http://Www.Twitter.com/stellatoos)


	3. reprisal in action

 

> _you got me fucked up, yeah, I lost my mind,_  
>  _you broke my heart in record time, _you vampire, bloody dopamine,_  
>  it’s heaven in between the lines  
>  _truth be told, i love the trouble,__
> 
> -warm bodies, by the clean tramps

 

Driving up the large driveway of his childhood home, Hyunjin parks his car before making the unnecessarily long trek up to the front door. He hesitates in front of the door, once again reading over the text his mother had sent him last night. He’s glaring at the small font when the buzz of the intercom startles him. 

 

“Are you going to stand their all day or are you coming in?” The familiar voice of his dad makes Hyunjin smile and he opens the door, stepping in. 

 

Hyunjin had shamefully not been home since last New Year. A fact both his mother and father had been very aggrieved by. He removes his shoes and greets the housekeeper. She’s busy dusting the china but directs him towards his father’s study. He thanks her and makes the familiar walk up the grand staircase and to the right, where his dad’s study stands, behind two large oak doors. 

 

Hyunjin knocks and enters when he hears his dad call out.

 

His father is sitting behind his desk, head burrowed in the stack of binders and papers, “Hyunjin. When’s the last time you’ve been home? You didn’t even bother stopping by after your summer trip. Just straight to school,” His father shakes his head as he flips through a stack of papers. 

 

Smiling sheepishly, Hyunjin pulls the chair in front of his dads desk over, setting it next to his father’s own. Wrapping an arm around his dad’s shoulders he gives him a one armed hug, “I’m sorry Dad. I promise to spend the holidays home, yeah? No holiday trips, how does that sound?”

 

His dad raises a brow, “We’ll see if you stick to those words,” Organizing the papers, he looks over at Hyunjin, “I know stopping by to see your old man is not enough of a reason to get you to come home, I’m guessing your mom texted you?”

 

Hyunjin sighs, dropping his arm, he nods, “So they’re suing?”

 

Nodding, his dad hands him the case file, “They’ve fabricated a malpractice case. It’s mainly bullshit but the fear is that there’s enough truth behind it to warrant action.” 

 

His father lets out a weary sigh.

 

Hyunjin flips through the stacks of paper, various reports filling the thick binder. Many are accompanied by likely false testimonies. He get’s to the bottom of the stack and pulls out the notice of intention to sue. It’s elaborately written and as Hyunjin scans through it, he can already tell its at least eighty percent bullshit.

 

He shakes his head, “All this because we dropped their supplier? That’s gotta be illegal in and of itself. We should sue them back, for defamation.”

 

Smiling his father shakes his head, “I like your enthusiasm but the lawyers said the best course of action right now is to focus on falsifying their case. We talked to Mr. Jung and he said if we work on getting reports and testimonies to refute...“

 

Hyunjin has stopped paying attention as his father explains the case. He feels his blood run cold, anger consuming him as he glares down at one of the lawyer’s names typed neatly at the bottom of the notice of intention.

 

Kim fucking Wonpil. 

 

 

 

 

Hyunjin throws himself down in front of the other two, chest heaving in quick spurts as he catches his breath, “Let’s do it.”

 

The other two look up at him, surprised. They’re sitting on a couch in the corner of Happy Cup, Minho having been studying and Chan having been scrolling through his phone. Hyunjin had texted them an hour prior, asking for their whereabouts and promptly ignoring their responses and questionings toward why he needed to know. 

 

He’d come sprinting through the doors of the cafe, the small bell above the door signaling his arrival before he’d plopped himself down on the coffee table in front of the other two.

 

Minho’s eyebrows furrowed and he looks questioningly toward Chan before glancing back at Hyunjin, “Do what?”

 

“The plan. To get back at Wonpil. Lets do it.” Hyunjin huffed.

 

At the mention of his ex, Minho sits up, setting down his notebook. He looks at the other skeptically, “What brought about this change in opinion? You were super against the plan just yesterday.”

 

Hyunjin shakes his head, “Doesn’t matter. The faster we get started with this the faster we get back at that asshole, right? Let’s talk, what’s the whole plan?”

 

Minho leans back and crosses his legs, folding his hands against his knee, “Sorry to disappoint Jinnie, but we’ve actually devised a new plan already.”

 

Hyunjin’s face falls and he looks back and forth between Minho and Chan, “What? Already? What is it?”

 

“We’re gonna humiliate the asshole instead. Chan convinced me that getting him fired may have been going too far. Instead, I’m just gonna ‘accidentally’ leak some of the nudes he sent me to his coworkers through his email,” Minho pouts toward Chan, “No higher ups though, Chan said it’ll get him in trouble.” 

 

Hyunjin deflates, his mind scrambling. He had to get the prick fired before he screwed with the hospital case, he was almost sure that Wonpil was the leading brains behind the convoluted case against his family’s hospital. The arrogant lawyer had still had the nerve to show up at the sponsors night last week despite having likely already drafted that bullshit notice. This had turned personal and, as much as it was about Minho’s revenge, it had also become about Hyunjin’s family’s reputation. Of course, he couldn’t tell Chan or Minho this. The lawyers had warned them to stay as quiet about the brewing scandal as possible and despite trusting the two with his life, Hyunjin couldn’t risk either of them accidentally being careless with the information.

 

Laughing suddenly, Hyunjin sits up, “That’s so weak.”

 

Minho startles, looking over at him with eyebrows furrowed, “What?”

 

Hyunjin sits back and shrugs nonchalantly, “He fucked you so he could work on your dad’s case and all you’re gonna do is leak some of his nudes? How fucking high school.”

 

Scoffing, Minho leans forward, “You’re the shitty saint that couldn’t even agree to the plan yesterday.”

 

At their bitter tone, Chan sits forward, “Look, I think we’re all getting a little unnecessarily heated here.”

 

Ignoring Chan’s comment, Minho continues taunting, “In all honesty, I doubt you’d even be able to do it.” 

 

Raising an eyebrow, Hyunjin stands, placing two hands against the table and leaning forward, “Okay lets make this interesting then. If I can’t get the little brother to fall for me by November, we go with your plan instead. But if I can,” He pauses looking down at Minho’s watch, “I get your Patek.”

 

Minho frowns, bring his arm closer to his chest as if worried Hyunjin might try to snatch the watch now. Looking at the other skeptically, he nods slowly, “Okay fine. But if you don’t manage it, I also get Suzy.”

 

Chan gasps and Hyunjin frowns. Ignoring Chan’s rapid hand waving, Hyunjin nods reluctantly. He stops in front of Minho, holding a hand out. Chan lets out a dramatic yelp as the two shake hands. 

 

“I’m gonna miss that car,” Chan cries out, burying his head in his hands.

 

Minho rolls his eyes, putting a hand on Chan’s shoulder, “I’ll still let you join me for joy rides.”

 

Chan glares at him, “You’re a shit driver. We all know you’re gonna wreck that car within a week.”`

 

-

 

Seungmin walks out of the classroom, fumbling about and nearly dropping the stack of books in his hands. He barely manages to adjust his grip in time to prevent his notebooks from clattering to the floor. 

 

He breathes out a sigh of relief, making to walk back toward his dorm. Unfortunately, Seungmin’s shoe is untied and as he lifts his left foot up, the shoelace, snagged under his right foot, causes him to trip and sends his various belongs scattering across the hallway. He lets out a frustrated groan. Dropping to his knees, he rushes to gather the various papers and books before the sea of students trample over them. 

 

Seungmin has barely managed to collect half of his papers and books before another hand reaches down, helping him gather what he’d just dropped. Seungmin looks up at the stranger whose head is bent low as he makes quick work of collecting Seungmin’s things. The stranger looks up, flashing him a charming smile as he hands back a notebook neatly stuffed with the papers that Seungmin had dropped.

 

Hold on. This stranger was vaguely familiar. Seungmin squints at the other, accepting the books and notebooks. He looks closely at him, taking in the dark hair, full lips and eye smile. Ah hah! The guy he’d ran into on the first day of school. The one he’d made spill coffee all over his front. He’d been an asshole that day, why was he being so nice, today?

 

Seungmin stares at the other skeptically, “Thanks.”

 

The stranger smiles charismatically, “Are you, okay? That trip looked pretty nasty.”

 

Seungmin can feel his face heating up. He hadn’t realized the stranger had been witness to his embarrassing fumble. He coughs awkwardly into the back of his hand, nearly dropping all of his school stuff for the third time in the past ten minutes. 

 

The stranger leans forward quickly and helps him adjust his grip, “You good?” He’s laughing but Seungmin can hear the slight worry behind his amiable chuckle. He jokingly holds his hands out in front of Seungmin, as if he has to be ready to spot him at any given moment. 

 

Seungmin admits begrudgingly that the precaution is probably necessary but that doesn’t make the gesture any less annoying and Seungmin moves back from the stranger maybe a little too quickly. He stumbles a bit but catches himself, “Umm, thanks. Bye now.”

 

The stranger opens his mouth and holds an arm out, but Seungmin ignores both, deftly dodging the arm. He takes advantage of the incoming crowd of students in order to distance himself from the weirdly handsome and seemingly erratic stranger. 

 

After their encounter last week, Seungmin had promptly labeled the stranger as an enemy. Truthfully, the hope and plan had been to never run into him again but had their paths ever consequently crossed, Seungmin had planned on reacting hostilely toward the arrogant man. He’d honestly expected the stranger to react the same way towards him after he’d accidentally caused him to ruin his shirt. The last thing Seungmin had expected was for the stranger to transform into his knight in shining armor after he’d managed to make an ass of himself.

 

“HELLooO! Earth to Seungmin!” 

 

Seungmin snaps out of his inner turmoil by a hand that pulls him (with a very unnecessary amount of force) toward the side of the hallway.

 

“What’s got you in dreamland? It’s not calc is it?” Jisung snaps his fingers obnoxiously.

 

Seungmin slaps Jisung hand out of his face and glares at the other boy, “Stop that.”

 

Jisung reacts very much like a wounded animal, holding his arm against his chest and pouting dramatically. He looks at Seungmin’s various notebooks and papers and scoffs, “Why’s all your stuff so dirty?”

 

“I, uh, tripped,” Seungmin mumbles, looking down at his feet shamefully.

 

Jisung snorts, “Jesus Christ Seungmin, you are so embarrassing. This is why I don’t walk with you,” Jisung has to leap out of Seungmin’s reach to avoid being slapped.

 

Seungmin glares at Jisung but choses to let the insult go, “Do you remember the guy I told you about, the one I made spill coffee all over himself?”

 

“The dick that was rude to you? What an asshole, doesn’t he know I’m the only one whose allowed to bully you.” Jisung balls his hand into a fist, holding it up in the air as if ready to seek vengeance for Seungmin at any given moment.

 

Seungmin rolls his eyes, “Yeah, him. Well after I tripped today, he like, swooped in out of nowhere and started helping me pick up all my stuff. It was so weird. He was like, a completely different person. He was so nice.”

 

Jisung raises his brows, “Are you sure it was him?” He gasps loudly, flailing about, “MAYBE HE HAS A TWIN! Oh my god! That reminds me of a drama I watched the other day! There was these set of twins, but the main twin—the main character—didn’t know he had a twin at first, so really in the beginning you kind of just thought there was one guy, but THEN a bunch of bad stuff starts happening—someone dies—wait no first—“

 

Seungmin rolls his eyes, he has no idea why he thought Jisung would have been any actual help. He begins walking in the direction of the dining hall, shaking his head as Jisung follows close behind, still rambling.

 

—

 

Hyunjin flops down onto the sofa and lets out a loud and frustrated groan. Several students turn to glare at him and Minho bodily shoves him, shushing him. 

 

“Why the fuck are you so loud for! This is the library; people are studying, asshole,” Minho whispers furiously. “At least go be obnoxious somewhere further away from me. You're so embarrassing.”

 

Minho curls further away from Hyunjin and burrows his head back into his book. 

 

“Don’t you want to hear how it went with the little brother?” Hyunjin asks, an eyebrow quirked.

 

Minho’s ear turn up at the mention of Seungmin, glancing over. He hesitates, glaring at Hyunjin from over the book, but eventually gives in and puts it away.

 

Hyunjin smirks but then it falls when he remember how badly the entire encounter went, “I waited outside his calculus class like you said to. He came out like 15 minutes late, I was beginning to think he had skipped or your guy had given you the wrong schedule. He did eventually come out, took like five steps and then tripped and dropped all his stuff.”

 

Minho's eyebrow raises, “That’s great. Tell me you played the part and helped him up?”

 

“I tried to! I helped gather all his shit but the dude looked weirdly scared of me. He practically ran away from me once I handed his books over. I didn’t even get to introduce myself or get his name.”

 

Tsking, Minho shakes his head disappointedly, "You are kind of ugly, I'd be scared of you too." Dodging Hyunjin's foot, he holds his phone above his head, "Hey! No hitting or I'm not giving you the  list of his extracurriculars.”

 

Hyunjin stops his kicking and sits up, reaching over. Minho slaps his hand away, “Nuh uh, not so fast. This is a bet remember. I’m not gonna help you for free. The schedule was a friendly hand out.”

 

Hyunjin rolls his eyes, sitting back petulantly, "What do you want."

 

“100 dollars,” Minho smirks, hand held out expectantly.

 

Spluttering, Hyunjin glares at the older, “I don’t have that kind of money on me! I thought we were friends with the same goal here.”

 

Minho ignores him, looking down at his own hand expectantly. 

 

“Fine. I’ll Venmo it,” Hyunjin grumbles, taking out his phone, “Leach.”

 

Ignoring the insult, Minho claps excitedly. Once the transaction comes in through Minho’s phone, he hands his phone over open to an email. Hyunjin looks thought it, an eyebrow raised.

 

“‘Muggle Mayhem’, ‘D&D Club’, ‘GeekWeek Planning Committee’? Why couldn’t this kid just be in the tennis team?”

 

Minho shrugs, “I told you he was a nerd. There’s a D&D club meeting tomorrow at five. You’d probably run into him there if you went.” 

 

“The fuck is D&D? It’s not Harry Potter is it?” Hyunjin looked at Minho skeptically.

 

“I don’t think so. It might be fun for all you know. Maybe you’ll even develop a new hobby,” Minho laughs, rolling away from Hyunjin when he makes to kick him again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed, make sure to leave a comment feedback and criticism is very much appreciated ~
> 
> twitter - [stellatoos](Http://Www.Twitter.com/stellatoos)


	4. placing of the pawns

 

 

> right then the walls came falling,  
>  a voice came calling,  
>  the night it rained in your eyes  
>  mirror ask me, “why?",  
>  i don't act surprised  
>   

> -one magic moment, bad suns

 

 

A blaring car horn and a distant siren weave their way into the angry and clamorous noise of the stationary traffic as it makes its slow yet steadfast movement through rush hour. Foot traffic is almost equally as heavy and people seem to be keen on taking advantage of the nice weather before the storm scheduled for later today. The sky is a pretty and deceivingly bright blue and the sun shines bright when Minho steps out of his apartment building, prompting him to pull on a pair of sunglasses.

 

He scans the bustling sidewalk for the familiar face of his driver and frowns when he’s unable to spot the friendly old man. Checking his phone again, he looks at the text message that confirmed his driver would be waiting for him outside his apartment. Looking back up he only spots a couple talking against the curb and a young man on his phone, leaning against his car.

 

Already irritated at the stall in his plans, he pulls up his mother’s contact information and presses the phone against his ears.

 

“What did you do with my driver?” He asks bluntly, the second the call clicks through.

 

“Hello to you too.” His mother answers, shuffling on the other end of the line.

 

Minho ignores her greeting, “Did you fire him?”

 

“ _That’s too long. It makes her knees look weird, it needs to be shorter._ ” his mom mutters to someone on the other end. After some more shuffling, she sighs exasperatedly into the phone, “Minho, I’m not your father. I can’t be bothered to decipher your little tantrums. Use your words and just tell me what the problem is.”

 

“My driver. What did you do to him?”

 

“Your driver? Nothing. _No_ , _not_ _the_ _sleeves! They look good, we’ll keep the length just fix the hem._ I don’t know what you're talking about. Is he not responding to you?”

 

“He is. He said he was here,” Minho mutters, craning his neck to look around the curb, “But I don’t see him.”

His mother suddenly hums.

 

“Oh! That's right, I completely forgot. Your father decided to strengthen security after watching the news late last night. This whole house arrest situation isn’t doing him any good; he’s gotway too much time on his hands now,” his mom lets out a weary sigh, “He saw some story about a small string of attacks nearby and is now convinced there’s a serial killer in our neighborhood. Security upped their protocol and I think they mentioned they were switching some of the drivers. Just text Mark and he’ll send you a picture of your new driver.”

 

Minho rolls his eyes, “You didn’t think this was important for me to know?”

 

“I did, I just forgot.”

 

“Whatever,” He mutters under his breath, “Thanks, bye.”

 

“Buh-bye.”

 

Minho hangs up. Lifting his sunglasses up and away from his eyes, he sends a quick text to the head of their family’s security. Mark’s response is prompt, as usual, and after a couple minutes a text comes in with a profile. Minho raises a brow as he zooms in on the I.D. picture.

 

 _Kim_ _Woojin_.

 

Looking up, Minho looks toward the young man he’d seen earlier.

 

 _So_ _this_ _was_ _his_ _new_ _driver?_ sticking his bottom lip out thoughtfully, Minho nods, _He_ _could_ _get_ _used_ _to_ _that_.

 

Minho pulls down his sunglasses over his eyes as he walks over. Stopping in front of the other man, he clears his throat. The driver, Woojin, startles a little, quickly pocketing his phone before bowing slightly at Minho.

 

“Hello, sir,” he greets politely.

 

Minho smiles at him, “Are you my new driver?”

 

Woojin looks up and nods before straightening. He hesitates before clumsy opening the back door for Minho, standing uncomfortably rigid as he waits for the younger to take a seat.

 

“Aren’t you a little young to be a driver?” Minho asks, trailing his eyes up the other’s frame from behind the cover of the darkened lenses of his sunglasses.

 

Woojin clears his throat awkwardly and scratches at the back of his neck, “Uh, I don’t think so. I mean, I have a lot experience and I don’t think there’s a certain age a driver needs to be—“

 

“I’m messing with you,” Minho assure, stepping into the car, “My old driver was ancient. This is a nice change of pace.” He flashes him a small smirk before sitting back into the car.

 

Woojin looks a little startled at Minho’s expression. He stalls for a bit before nodding slightly and closing the car door, a faint blush on his cheeks.

 

 

 

 

The copy room has two main functions. The first is the obvious and God-intended one, which is to serve as a place for employees to make copies and print out various work related documents. The second function has more or less been developed in recent months and is to serve as a sort of meeting grounds as well as a safe-haven for over-worked or merely bored interns. As a result, making copies or printing prototypes has become the most sought out task at the office, interns practically tripping over themselves when the tasks arise.

 

Chan and Hyunjin had hit the jackpot this morning when Mr. Lim had asked the two to print out 3,000 brochures highlighting J&K’s newest products for an upcoming convention. The gloriously old copier is taking its sweet, sweet time printing out the ink abundant pamphlets and the two have been in the copy room for a little over half an hour at this point.

 

The mechanical noise of the working copier and the quiet melodic beats of the girl group song coming through Chan’s headphones are the only noise in the nearly empty copy room. Hyunjin sits crossed-legged on the nearby supply table, studying his phone intensely, while Chan attempts to perform a one man version of the bubble-gum pop song he is currently listening to.

 

Chan is midchoreo, hands coming together at his face to form some semblance of a heart, when, out of the corner of his eye, he notices Mr. Lee walking purposefully towards the room. Ripping off his headphones, he quickly straightens his tie and shoves Hyunjin, “Dude, incoming! It’s the boss, get your ass off the work desk!” The company’s CEO is dressed in an expensive suit and Chan could’ve sworn he had an important investor’s meeting scheduled for this time. Regardless, he is walking quickly towards the copy room and Chan and Hyunjin have seconds to scramble and straighten themselves before Mr. Lee is walking in. A younger man who looks around their age, if not a bit younger, trails close behind.

 

Chan and Hyunjin bow in greeting, “Hello Mr. Lee.”

 

“Chan, Hyunjin,” Mr. Lee returns the greeting with a smile. Stepping to his right slightly, he motions towards the other man, “This is my son, Felix. Don’t mind us, I’m just taking him on a quick tour around the new branch.”

 

Chan smiles and nods. He looks over at the other man, Felix, who makes shifty eye-contact before quickly looking away. The younger man’s face is quickly turning a bright shade of red and he seems to shrink away behind his dad.

 

“Anyways,” Mr. Lee announces, stealing Chan’s attention back, “We’ll leave you two to continue working.” With a wave, the CEO turns and leaves the copy room, Felix quick on his heels.

 

Hyunjin and Chan let out a simultaneous breath of relief as they watched their retreating figures. Chan pokes his head out of the room to ensure the duo is gone before he lets out a laugh, “Dude, the boss’ son totally has the hots for me.” Eyes wide, he turns back toward the copy room, “Yo, I could totally use that to my advantage, couldn’t I?” He turns expectantly toward Hyunjin, waiting for some sort of disagreement or a thinly veiled insult.

 

Instead, Hyunjin doesn’t even seemed to have heard him. The other has already returned to his perch, head bent low as he reads over an email on his phone.

 

Chan glares at the top of Hyunjin’s head, “What the hell is so interesting on that phone of yours? You’ve been studying it all morning” he asks as he leans against the copier.

 

Hyunjin raises his head, “Hmm, oh uh, it’s nothing.” He quickly closes his phone, the screen going black and hiding the email his dad’s lawyer had just sent, “What were you saying?”

 

Eyebrow’s furrowed, Chan looks at Hyunjin skeptically, “You’re not hiding anything are you? You’ve been sort of on edge all week.”

 

Hyunjin bites his lip. He quickly shakes his head and laughs a little, “It’s just this stupid bet, you know? I’m just trying to make a game plan.”

 

Chan grimaces a little at the mention of the bet, “That whole thing seems so unnecessarily sleazy. Not to mention, the stakes are way too high.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

Chan’s mouth drops. He holds his arms out, “Suzy? You’d really give her up?”

 

Hyunjin rolls his eyes.

 

The copier machine beeps, signaling that the printing job is finally finished. Hyunjin pushes off the table and goes to collect the printed brochures.

 

“Well,” he holds out a stack to Chan and winks, “I don’t plan on losing.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

Felix nearly drops the suits in his arms when he slaps himself on the forehead and lets out an angry groan. He smashes the ground floor button a little too hard and winces, shaking his thumb in pain. He had practically jumped at the excuse to leave the building when his father had complained about having to drop off his dry cleanings, immediately offering to do it for him.

 

 _God_ , _why_ _was_ _he_ _such_ _a_ _fucking_ _loser_.

 

To be fair, he hadn’t expected his father to lead him straight into the goddamn fire with zero warnings.

 

He’d been promised a simple tour.

 

His mother had yet again forced him to go visit his father at the new branch and since his father lacked common social skills, the best bonding activity he could come up with was to give his son a tour of the new branch. It was meant to be just that. A simple tour. And, yeah okay, maybe his dad had warned him that he’d run into some of the workers but he hadn’t expected one of those workers to be fucking Chan!

 

His mind replays the entire encounter as the elevator doors dings and he physically cringes as he steps out into the lobby. He hadn’t been ready to run into Chan. He wasn’t dressed cute and he hadn’t even been able to come up with anything funny or witty to say. He hadn’t even been able to maintain eye contact for crying out loud! Felix could only imagine how red his face had probably gotten. He was in the midst of trying to figure how brutally obvious it’d been that he had a massive crush on Bang Chan when he noticed someone rapidly approaching him.

 

Felix looks up and watches as Lee Minho saunters towards him. The older boy has on a billowing long-sleeved button up tucked attractively into the hem of expensive looking trousers. A pair of sunglasses are perched on his upturned nose and he demands attention as he walks through the office lobby. Onlookers eye the young man up and down, gossiping openly in hushed tones.

 

Minho walks with such conviction and purpose, that Felix gets the strange apprehension that he’s in trouble despite not having actually done anything.

 

Felix doesn’t even talk to Minho. At least not anymore. Their parents, were… acquaintances? Maybe? Minho’s family owned LS Group, a big conglomerate that housed a lot of important companies, a couple that were partners of J&K. So, yeah, Felix’s father did his damn best to stay on their good side. That meant a lot of dinners and get togethers and, inherently, Minho and Felix had been relatively close during their younger years.

 

Unfortunately, some time between the last couple of years of primary school and the beginning of high school, Minho had grown handsome and unattainable while Felix, on the other hand, had remained unremarkable and plain. Consequently, the two hadn’t really spoken much in recent years despite attending the same university. The only thing Felix really knew about the older boy was that he was in Chan’s friend gr—

 

 _Shit_.

 

Had word really traveled that fast? Had Minho somehow heard about minute prior’s plight? Was he really here to tell Felix off? Maybe he’d remind Felix that no amount of money could make him cool and that he should probably stick to his dorky interests and even dorkier friend group.

 

“Felix!” Minho stops in front of him, pulling his sunglasses off and delicately folding them before sticking them into the collar of his shirt. He flashes Felix a cordial smile, his large doll-like eyes and sharp angled features even more intimidating this up close, “Funny running into you down here! I called your mom up and she told me you’d come to visit your old man! I was just about to head upstairs to find you.”

 

Felix nods stupidly, laughing along awkwardly.

 

 _What_ _the_ _fuck_ _was_   _going_ _on_.

 

“You know, it’s been so long since we’ve gotten together. Far too long if you ask me!” Minho lets out a small laugh and Felix watches with slight unease as Minho grabs Felix’s arm and gives it a friendly squeeze, “I wanted to grab some lunch with you, are you free?”

 

Felix scratches the back of his neck and hesitates, “Uhhh,” He sputters, trying to dig up some sort of excuse, “You know, it’s actually not the best time. I have to drop off this dry-cleaning…”

 

Minho waves his hand dismissively, “We’ll just drop it off on our way there.”

 

And with no other excuse in his arsenal, Felix has no choice but to let himself be pulled toward the revolving lobby doors.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! I’ll get on it!” Changbin calls out toward the back of the shop.

 

His father was on his ass again just cause he’d accidentally delivered Mrs. Ham’s ancient fur coat to her next door neighbor. In his defense, her ones looked a hell of a lot like twos and it’s not like the old woman that answered had corrected him.

 

 _How_ _the_ _hell_ _was_ _he_ _supposed_ _to_ _know_?

 

Changbin leans against the edge of the front counter.

 

Glancing at the small corner TV, he grimaces as it displays some gruesome pixelated imagery of a young couple that had been recently attacked on their walk home late last night. The overly made-up news anchor spiels some bullshit about late night traveling safety tips. Most of which the couple had probably followed regardless of their unavoidable fate.

 

Scavenging around the front counter, Changbin grabs the remote and turns off the depressingmidday news, instead, opting to pull out his phone and scroll through instagram fruitlessly. Maybe someone had updated in the ten minutes since he’s last scrolled through his feed. He grimaces, only Jisung has posted, and it’s some embarrassing screenshot of his latest Fortnite victory. Changbin debates liking it for a couple seconds before giving in.

 

Jisung would just pester him endlessly if he didn’t.

 

The bell above the front door chimes, signaling a customer and Changbin straightens, pocketing his phone.

 

“Welcome to Hoon’s Quality Cleaners, how can—oh, hey, Felix,” Changbin smiles brightly at the familiar face. Felix looks awkward, arms stiffly piled high with suits. He smiles back, albeit far less cheerily. Behind him another man walks in, looking curiously around the shop.

 

“I, uh, just had to drop off some of my father’s suits,” Felix explains. At Changbin quizzical expression, he elaborates, “Uh, his assistant’s… sick.”

 

Changbin nods and makes his way around the counter to relieve him of the clothing. He glances at the stranger, looking far too expensive and bizarrely out of place within Changbin’s father’s old little dry cleaners. The other man is looking around the shop with thinly-veiled judgment and doesn’t seem to be holding any clothes so Changbin figures he’s with Felix.

 

“Well, uh,” Felix voice cuts through Changbin’s thoughts, “I’ll be going now,“ He mutters.

 

“Wait!” Changbin exclaims, maybe a little too loudly and far too desperately. Felix startles and the stranger looks over curiously. Changbin clear his throat awkwardly, “Uh, are you gonna go to Jisung’s birthday thing? I know you said you had your own birthday dinner that afternoon, but I think he moved it since Seungmin said he couldn’t go that day either—“

 

“You know Seungmin?” The stranger cuts in, perking up slightly. He looks over at the other two over the rim of his sunglasses, attention finally taken from the rack of clothes he’d been examining.

 

Changbin glances at Felix, who nods hesitantly, “Uh, yeah, he’s actually my dormmate. Do you know him?”

 

The other man color slightly, hesitating before nodding, “Yeah, I, um, dated his older brother for a bit.”

 

Felix nods, glancing at Changbin. A beat of awkward silence passes before Felix moves, “Um, you know, I still don’t really know. I’ll text you guys when I figure it out. I should get going. I’ll, uh, see you.” He gives Changbin a small smile before quickly leaving. The stranger sends Changbin a polite wave before following in Felix’s direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The hill giant rises from it’s slumber, letting out an earth-rumbling bellow,” At this point into the session, Jisung is fully immersed into his role as DM, complete with his deep “narrator voice”. He’s wearing his bright red cloak low over his brow, his eyes barely visible over the top of the partition screen as he surveys the other players connivingly.

 

Seungmin glances down at his own black cloak, self-consciously. He peeks at Hyunjin from the side of his eye. The older boy’s brows are furrowed and he’s staring down at the character sheet he’s meant to be filling out in confusion. From what Seungmin can see, the piece of paper is still mostly blank. The only thing filled out is the player name and the character name.

 

Both of which read Hyunjin.

 

How fittingly narcissistic.

 

Hyunjin drags his pencil against the paper absent-mindedly, reading the various categories over. His lips move as he silently mouths the foreign words to himself. Seungmin watches as he bites his upper lip. Hyunjin brings the pencil up to his mouth, pressing the eraser end against his plump bottom lip in thought.

 

“Seungmin!” Jisung snaps Seungmin out of his reverie. Seungmin glances up, startled, and makes eye contact with Hyunjin. The other boy smirks and Seungmin quickly turns back toward the game.

 

Hoping the dark room covers his quickly reddening cheeks, he looks toward Jisung, “What?”

 

Jisung looks at him exasperatedly, “Your move!”

 

“Oh, um,” Seungmin begins to panic. He hadn’t exactly been paying attention, much too distracted by… things. He can feel the other players start to stare him down, slowing getting increasingly more antsy but still Seungmin is much too stubborn to ask Jisung to repeat himself. He scrambles to think of something neutral to do.

 

“I, uh, cast a protection spell?” It’s meant as a statement, but he hesitates and it ends up coming out sounding more like a question.

 

“Hwall just casted one like two turns ago. What’s the point of casting another one?” Jisung counters, giving Seungmin a looks that says he’s absolutely aware that Seungmin has not been paying even the least bit of attention.

 

“Hwall’s only a level 3 Druid, how powerful could that spell have really been?” Hyunjoon sputters and lets out a small ‘Hey!’, taking the insult to his character personally. Seungmin gives him a sheepish apologetic shrug, before turning back toward Jisung, “I’m just casting another to be safe.”

 

Jisung huffs, “Whatever, it’s your turn to waste.” His voice returns to the deep baritone of ‘narrator’ and he addresses the rest of the group again.

 

Seungmin sits back in his seat. It’s not his fault he’s so on edge today.

 

The weirdly erratic and annoyingly handsome coffee boy had, for some reason, waltzed into the student center lounge an hour earlier, while Seungmin and Jisung had been setting up. Originally, Seungmin had assumed the lounge had accidentally been double-booked and that maybe coffee boy was here for some weird handsome convention. He’d been about to call up the front desk to complain about the mix-up, when coffee boy had held up one of the virtual flyers Jeongin had designed for them.

 

“Is this the right place for, uh, Dungeons and Dragons?” Coffee boy had asked, flashing them a smile that was far too pretty to be fair, “I’m Hyunjin, by the way.”

 

And then he’d proceeded to act far too clueless to really be a D&D enthusiast.

 

Now, Seungmin was always the first to welcome new members. Hell, ever since he and Jisung had practically inherited the club, he’d considered himself the head of the welcoming committee. But coffee boy—Hyunjin—was not just an ordinary new member. He was Seungmin’s self-proclaimed enemy. And for some godforsaken reason, he seemed to be cropping up in every aspect of Seungmin’s life. D&D was a time for Seungmin to get away from all of real-life’s shit, not another place for coffee-boy to infiltrate.

 

Seungmin risks a glance at Hyunjin, peeking at the other boy from behind the hood of his cloak. He’s surprised to find the older already staring at him, an eyebrow raised and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly in a teasing manner. Seungmin looks away quickly, pulling the hood of his cloak down over his brow and slinking further into his seat.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The torrential downpour slides off the edge of the roof in cold sheets. It floods the pavement and creates small puddles that soak your socks when you try to stomp through them in a pitiful attempt to avoid ruining your shoes.

 

Students clad in slippery raincoats are hidden under large umbrellas as the make quick movements to class or the bus stops.

 

The wind suddenly picks up and Seungmin shivers as it whips the blustering rain onto his face, somehow managing to get his pants and sweatshirt wet despite the sliver of roof he’s under. He pulls his flimsy sweatshirt tighter around his body, regretting not having grabbed a real jacket before he left his dorm this morning.

 

He vaguely remembers ignoring Felix’s warnings that he should at least borrow one of his umbrellas if he wasn’t keen on wearing a raincoat. Seungmin had naively refused under the assumption that he’d be able to beat the rain and get home before it got too bad. Instead, he’d foolishly volunteered to clean up the session on his own when Jisung had to leave early and it had taken much longer than he’d expected. Now, he was caught under the heaviest part of the storm with no protection.

 

The bus stop was only a couple blocks away but the rain means Seungmin will surely be completely soaked by the time he gets there.

 

“Fuck it.”

 

Seungmin pulls his hood over his head and wraps his arms around his middle. Sucking in a breath, he braces himself and makes to step forward when the door behind him suddenly opens. He turns and watches in envy as a large black umbrella is shaken open. The owner lifts it above their head, revealing a familiar leather jacket and pretty eye smile.

 

Coffee boy stops to Seungmin right. He stuffs the hand not holding the umbrella into his jean pocket and stares out into the rain.

 

“Hey.”

 

Seungmin stares at the taller boy up and down suspiciously, “Hi?”

 

“You need a ride?” Coffee boy—Hyunjin, glances at Seungmin from the corner of his eye.

 

“Um, I’m good.”

 

Hyunjin turns to look at him straight on and raises an eyebrow in questioning.

 

“You sure? It’s raining pretty hard. I don’t mind, really.”

 

Seungmin looks back toward the heavy rain and shakes his head quickly.

 

“Nah, I’ll be fine. I love the rain!”

 

He lets out an awkward laugh. Stuffing his hands into his pockets, he looks down and quickly walks forward into the rain. He talks several large steps ahead and is mildly surprised to feel that he’s still relatively dry. After a couple embarrassingly long seconds of thinking that maybe he’d discovered how to become water-proof, he decides to look up and sees a familiar black umbrella shielding him from the onslaught of rain. He glances behind him and see’s Hyunjin, staring at him with a smirk, as he holds the umbrella above their heads.

 

Hyunjin tilts his head toward the parking lot behind the student center, “C’mon my cars this way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i hope you enjoyed, make sure to leave a comment ~
> 
> twitter - [stellatoos](Http://Www.Twitter.com/stellatoos)


End file.
